Friday Fable #4

Friday Fable – Setting the Record Straight

Welcome to the fourth Friday Fable, where Avon United clears up misinformation designed to mislead voters.

Today’s Fable: “What happened regarding the post with the signs being torn down?”

The Truth:

• We will go into the whole story, but we are withholding the name of the person involved because of pending litigation and police reports.

• However, it’s important to bring up this incident because it not only shows how unstable this group of candidates can be but also how others stand by her despite this obvious lack of judgement.

• On Tuesday, a person running for trustee on the opposing slate decided they would take it upon herself to confront members of Avon United at their places of business.

• This person went to two locations with a copy of a digital screen shot of a D4 complaint from the Illinois State Board of Elections regarding a sign issue mentioned earlier this week.

• This “paperwork” only mentions Supervisor Michele Bauman, her home address, and adds the word “Avon United.” The “paperwork” does not list anyone else from the campaign.

• The two locations where this person tried to confront Avon United members were the Avon Township office, where Supervisor Michele Bauman was working, and Avon Trustee candidate Adam Solano’s business office on Route 45 in Avon Township.

• The unnamed candidate presented this “paperwork” to Supervisor Bauman without incident and left after only two minutes.

• At about 11:30 A.M., the unnamed candidate stormed into Mr. Solano’s place of business unannounced and tried to confront Mr. Solano. However, Mr. Solano was out of town on business, so another employee in the office tried to assist her.

• The candidate became visibly upset learning Solano was away from the office on business. She used her cell phone to call someone and said, “He’s not here, what should I do?”

• After ending her phone call, the candidate became hostile, knocking items off the front desk located in the foyer of Mr. Solano’s office.

• While these items may not be expensive, the fact that this person intentionally made a scene in his place of business and in front of people not involved in this election campaign was and remains extremely inappropriate.

• The trustee candidate left the office in a huff after her unexcused disruption.

• The office worker who was confronted by the candidate – who does not work for the Avon United campaign in any way - was visibly upset enough by this incident they felt the need to contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and file a police report.

• A second office employee also left the business for the day due to the disruptive visit from the candidate.

• Before police arrived, office employees then noticed election signs torn down in the parking lot.

• An incident report was filed with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. They chose to contact the candidate involved and was directed to stop harassing Avon United candidates at their places of business.

• Mr. Solano and the rest of Avon United sent a cease and desist letter to the person involved, instructing her to “stop harassing members of the Avon United Party at their places of employment.”

• The letter also states showing up unannounced at these places creates a hostile and disruptive work environment and that such behavior is unprofessional and inappropriate.

• The candidate was also warned further legal action would commence should something like this happen again.

Bottom Line: Confronting people at their place of business is extremely unprofessional and inappropriate. While you may try and justify your actions because you felt a need to deliver some “paperwork,” Mr. Solano’s name and his business were not listed on said document. You should have delivered the document to the person named on the document without disruption. Even if you felt going to the place of business to deliver the document was necessary, it did not give you the right to cause a commotion or destroy property at this place of business.

If a candidate seeking a public office can’t control their emotions without destroying private property and harassing people not involved in the campaign, maybe they should re-evaluate whether they have the right temperament for the job. In addition, the other candidates who surround themselves with this problem are guilty by association as they continue to remain supportive of this candidate despite knowing what happened. It paints a frightening picture of the type of people seeking to run Avon Township.